Wild Garlic and New Potato Crostata
Italian-ish Simplicity
Table of Contents
- ✨ Before We Begin…
- The Cook’s Mind
- A Note on Origin
- Ingredient Focus: Wild Garlic
- My Favourite Way to Eat
- Serving Suggestions
- Multi-Purpose Recipe
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- What Will You Learn Whilst Making This Recipe?
- Handpicked to Go With This One
- Waste Less: How To Use Up Your Ingredient Stash!
- Wild Garlic and New Potato Crostata Recipe
✨ Before We Begin…
Wild garlic marks the turning of the season — delicate, green, and full of promise. This crostata lets it shine beside new potatoes, leeks, and cherry tomatoes, all tucked into a rustic wholemeal crust. Simple to make, easy to share, and just as lovely cold — it’s a springtime keeper.
‘Must be best food offer, of any genre, in Kendal. Hugely accomplished cooking and very much recommended.’
Tony P, Kendal; Food Customer
The Cook’s Mind
Make-Ahead
- Pastry can be made 1–2 days in advance and stored in the fridge.
- The whole crostata will sit in the fridge for 24 hours.
Freezer-Friendly
- Pastry is ideal to make and freeze. It’s an ideal freezer-friend!
- Not ideal for freezing due to the fresh tomato and garlic. Best enjoyed fresh or next-day.
Rescue Mission – What To Do When Things Go Wrong
If the filling leaks, it’s okay — just tuck the edges back up, rustic charm prevails.
If your pastry cracks when rolling, it might be a little on the dry side. Put it back into the food processor and add another teaspoon of water. It should be pliable and stretchy. Kneading it a little more to activate the gluten could also work.
If the base feels soggy after baking, pop it back in the oven on the bottom shelf for 5 minutes.
Key Substitutions
- Wild garlic → finely chopped spring greens, spinach, or parsley
- Leeks → spring onions or shallots
- New potatoes → any small waxy potato
Cooking Parlance
- “Rub in” the fat — work it gently into the flour using your fingertips or pulse in a processor.
- “Shaken over in best cheffy fashion” — drizzle oil lightly from a height to distribute evenly.
- “Fold over the edges” — create a rustic crust by turning in the pastry sides, no tin needed.
A Note on Origin
This crostata nods to the Italian idea of doing less, better — just a handful of good ingredients, gently assembled. There’s a countryside rhythm to it too, one that’s found in Lake District gardens and allotments as much as Tuscan terraces. It’s not a traditional recipe — but it could be your new springtime ritual.
Ingredient Focus: Wild Garlic
Wild garlic has a softness that’s different to bulb garlic — greener, gentler, and seasonal to the core. It’s wonderful raw in pesto or wilted into dishes like this. Chop it fresh, add it last, and let its woodland perfume do the talking.
✨ Woodland brightness — gentle, green, and gone too soon.
My Favourite Way to Eat
I enjoyed this straight from the oven but somehow more so the next day because I was so busy and it was sitting ready and waiting. I love the crumbs everywhere and it is worth slowing down for…
Serving Suggestions
- Still warm from the oven with a well-dressed sharp salad (flat leaf parsley instead of lettuce, thinly sliced red onion, preserved lemon and a few capers) along with a good dollop of Almond and Cashew Ricotta.
- Tuck into a lunchbox with a little pot of olives.
- Pair with a chilled white bean dip for a spring mezze vibe.
Multi-Purpose Recipe
This recipe has more than one life…
- Turn it into a centrepiece for a spring lunch with a bottle of elderflower fizz and a herby salad.
- Make individual crostatas as canapés
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
It’s seasonal, simple, and deeply satisfying. You make a quick pastry from scratch — no faff, no fancy tins — and fill it with springtime brightness. The wild garlic and potatoes are a dream together, and the whole thing feels rustic in the best possible way.
What Will You Learn Whilst Making This Recipe?
You’ll practise rubbing in fat to flour — a classic pastry technique that’s easy to master once you get the feel. You’ll also learn how to layer wet and dry ingredients without ending up with a soggy base, and how to shape a tart freehand without a tin. Most of all, you’ll learn how far a few good seasonal ingredients can go.
Handpicked to Go With This One
A few recipes that play well together — flavour friends, not just neighbours.
- Almond and Cashew Nut Ricotta
- Golden Hour Broad Bean Tart
- Roasted Chickpea, Red Pepper Antipasto with Smoked Paprika Oil Dressing
Waste Less: How To Use Up Your Ingredient Stash!
Got something spare — a handful, a spoonful, or the end of a packet? These tags help you find other ways to use it. It’s a small step toward cooking intuitively and wasting less❣️
cherry tomatoes, dried thyme, jersey royal potatoes, leek, new potatoes, passata, Stork baking block, tomato, wholemeal plain flour, wild garlic
Wild Garlic and New Potato Crostata Recipe
Wild Garlic and New Potato Crostata
This wild garlic crostata is a seasonal celebration in tart form, pairing a flaky wholemeal crust with spring vegetables and a tomato base. New potatoes bring comfort, wild garlic adds brightness, and a scattering of thyme ties it all together. It’s humble to make but always draws compliments — a dish to linger over with friends or take outdoors.
Photographed truthfully. If you cook it, yours will look like mine.
Ingredients
Ingredients for the pastry
- 150 g wholemeal plain flour
- 75 g Stork baking block
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 3 tbsp cold water
Ingredients for the filling
- 60 g passata
- 250 g new potatoes | cooked and sliced lengthways 4mm thick
- 15 g wild garlic leaves | sliced into ribbons 5mm wide
- 70 g leek | finely shredded
- 150 g cherry tomatoes | sliced 4mm thick
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 1 unit dried thyme | generous pinch!
- 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
Make the pastry
- Mix the salt into the flour. Then rub the fat into the flour either by hand or by 'pulsing' in a food processor (preferred method; keeps fat colder). Then add the water and proceed to mix into a ball. Knead the ball on a floured work surface for a couple of minutes so that the gluten is activated and it's a nice soft pliable ball. Press the ball down to flatten, cover with clingfilm and put into the fridge for 30 minutes to chill.150 g wholemeal plain flour, 75 g Stork baking block, ⅛ tsp salt, 3 tbsp cold water
Prepare the filling
- Prepare the ingredients listed and put into separate containers ready.
- Preheat the oven to 200℃ (220 conventional) and get out a large baking sheet. Line with baking paper if necessary.
Roll the pastry
- Flour the work surface lightly. Roll out the pastry, turn it quarter turns between rolls. To keep an even thickness, remember not to roll to the edge. Sprinkle a little flour on the top of the pastry as it rolls out. Roll to 2-3mm thick.When you're happy with it, and the oven is at the correct temperature, put the rolling pin onto the pastry and use the rolling pin to carry the pastry to the baking sheet.
- Leave approximately 4cm at the edge untouched. Cover the surface of the pastry with the passata. Once that liquid is on the surface, move nimbly: scatter the potatoes, wild garlic, leeks, tomatoes, dried thyme, salt and finally the olive oil (shaken over in best cheffy fashion!). Fold over the pastry edges and move around the edges to make it a good shape.60 g passata, 70 g leek, 250 g new potatoes, 150 g cherry tomatoes, 15 g wild garlic leaves, ⅛ tsp salt, 1 unit dried thyme, 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
- Place into the pre-heated oven for 30 minutes. Check the pastry is toasted cooked on the edges and underneath. Cool on a baking tray.
Nutrition
Calories: 235kcalCarbohydrates: 30gProtein: 4gFat: 11gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 5gSodium: 227mgPotassium: 328mgFiber: 2gSugar: 2gVitamin A: 822IUVitamin C: 16mgCalcium: 27mgIron: 2mg
Nutritional values are estimates only and will vary depending on specific ingredients used. Nutrition is per serving. Information is for the main recipe, not optional accompaniments.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
COPYRIGHT
© The Golden Polar Bear, 2025. Recipes and photography by Julia Savory. If you share this, please pass it along with kindness and if possible share a link back to this site. #ForTheAnimals
Photographed truthfully. If you cook it, yours will look like mine.
Next Steps?
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